Andy Rubin, the CEO of Essential Products, has apologised after a misconfigured email was sent to people who pre-ordered the Essential Phone seeking photo ID (such as driving licences, state ID, passport) information. Because of the email misconfiguration, customers who replied to the email with their personal information ending up sending it to all those who had received the email.

The co-creator of Android has confirmed that around 70 customers were affected by the sloppy confirmation process and that Essential will offer one year of LifeLock protection to impacted customers to prevent potential identify theft.

“Yesterday, we made an error in our customer care function that resulted in personal information from approximately 70 customers being shared with a small group of other customers. We have disabled the misconfigured account and have taken steps internally to add safeguards against this happening again in the future,” Rubin wrote in a blog post.

“Being a founder in an intensely competitive business means you occasionally have to eat crow. It’s humiliating, it does not taste good, and often, it’s a humbling experience. As Essential’s founder and CEO, I’m personally responsible for this error and will try my best to not repeat it,” he added.

The Essential Phone was introduced in May and the company had promised a June release. However, the shipping was delayed and the company earlier this month said the phone was finally available for purchase from its own website and retail partners. The phone features an edge-to-edge display and a modular system that lets users attach accessories such as a 360-degree camera.